Category Archives: documentary

78 of the aircraft from the hijackers. During the struggle, the plane crashed into a field near a reclaimed strip mine in Stonycreek Township, near Indian Lake and Shanksville, about 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Pittsburghand 130 miles (210 km) northwest of Washington, D.C. A few people witnessed the impact from the ground, and news agencies began reporting the event within an hour.

Of the four aircraft hijacked on September 11 – the others were American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 77 – United Airlines Flight 93 was the only one that did not reach its hijackers’ intended target. Vice President Dick Cheney, in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center deep under the White House, upon learning of the premature crash, is reported to have said, “I think an act of heroism just took place on that plane.”

A temporary memorial was built near the crash site soon after the attacks. Construction of a permanent Flight 93 National Memorial was dedicated on September 10, 2011, and the concrete and glass visitor center situated on a hill overlooking the site was opened exactly four years later.

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The Attica Prison riot, also known as the Attica Prison rebellion or Attica Prison uprising, occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, United States in 1971. Based upon prisoners’ demands for better living conditions and political rights, the riot was one of the most well-known and significant uprisings of the Prisoners’ Rights Movement. On September 9, 1971, two weeks after the killing of George Jackson at San Quentin State Prison, about 1,000 of the Attica prison’s approximately 2,200 inmates rioted and took control of the prison, taking 42 staff hostage.

During the following four days of negotiations, authorities agreed to 28 of the prisoners’ demands,[citation needed] but would not agree to demands for complete amnesty from criminal prosecution for the prison takeover or for the removal of Attica’s superintendent. By the order of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, state police took back control of the prison. When the uprising was over, at least 43 people were dead, including ten correctional officers and civilian employees, and 33 inmates.

Rockefeller, who refused to visit the prisoners during the rebellion, stated that the prisoners “carried out the cold-blood killings they had threatened from the outset,”[1] despite only one of the deaths being attributed to the prisoners. New York Times writer Fred Ferretti said the rebellion concluded in “mass deaths that four days of taut negotiations had sought to avert”.[2]

Throughout the negotiations, there was leadership and organization among the prisoners. Frank “Big Black” Smith was appointed as head of security, and he also kept the hostages and the observers safe.[5] Additionally, an ardent orator, 21-year-old Elliott James “L.D.” Barkley, was a strong force during the negotiations, speaking with great articulation to the inmates, the camera crews, and outsiders at home.[6] Barkley, just days away from his scheduled release at the time of the riot, was killed during the recapturing of the prison. Assemblyman Arthur Eve testified that Barkley was alive after the prisoners had surrendered and the state regained control; another inmate stated that the officers searched him out, yelling for Barkley, and shot him in the back.[6][7]

Police shooting down at prisoners in the yard. (Photo credit by William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe)

We are men! We are not beasts and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such. The entire prison populace, that means each and every one of us here, have set forth to change forever the ruthless brutalization and disregard for the lives of the prisoners here and throughout the United States. What has happened here is but the sound before the fury of those who are oppressed. We will not compromise on any terms except those terms that are agreeable to us. We’ve called upon all the conscientious citizens of America to assist us in putting an end to this situation that threatens the lives of not only us, but of each and every one of you, as well.

Elliott James “L.D.” Barkley, 1971

As speakers like Barkley raised morale, the rebels’ negotiating team of prisoners proposed their requests to the commissioner. The Attica Liberation Faction Manifesto Of Demands is a compilation of complaints written by the Attica prisoners, which speak directly to the “sincere people of society”. It includes 27 demands, such as better medical treatment, fair visitation rights, and an end to physical brutality. The prisoners also requested better sanitation, improved food quality, and one set of rules for the state among numerous other demands. The manifesto specifically assigns the power to negotiate to five inmates: Donald Noble, Peter Butler, Frank Lott, Carl Jones-El, and Herbert Blyden X. Additionally, the document specifically lists out “vile and vicious slave masters” who oppressed the prisoners such as the New York governor, New York Corrections, and even the United States Courts.[8]

The situation may have been further complicated by Governor Rockefeller’s refusal to come to the scene of the riot and meet with the inmates,[4] although some later evaluations of the incident would postulate that his absence from the scene actually prevented the situation from deteriorating.[10]Negotiations broke down, and Oswald was unable to make further concessions to the inmates. However, he did not tell them that negotiations had ended and he would take the prison back by force. He even said: “I want to continue negotiations with you.”[11] Oswald later called Governor Rockefeller and again begged him to come to the prison to calm the riot. After the governor’s refusal, Oswald stated that he would order the State Police to retake the facility by force. Rockefeller agreed with Oswald’s decision. This agreement was later criticized by a commission created by Rockefeller to study the riot and its aftermath.[12]

The second group was founded in 1915 and it flourished nationwide in the early and mid-1920s, particularly in urban areas of the Midwest and West. Rooted in local Protestant communities, it opposed Catholics and Jews, while also stressing its opposition to the Catholic Church at a time of high immigration from mostly Catholic nations of southern and eastern Europe.[6] This second organization adopted a standard white costume and used code words which were similar to those used by the first Klan, while adding cross burningsand mass parades to intimidate others.

The second and third incarnations of the Ku Klux Klan made frequent references to America’s “Anglo-Saxon” blood, hearkening back to 19th-century nativism.[21] Although members of the KKK swear to uphold Christian morality, virtually every Christian denominationhas officially denounced the KKK.[22]

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The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to 1939, and was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. It began afterthe stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors.

Families were driven out of the once fertile great plains by massive dust clouds–one that rose to 10,000 feet and reached as far as New York City.

The Dust Bowl refers to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region.

The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions.

“By the mid-1930s, state and federal governments also were operating them.Soup kitchensserved mostlysoupand bread.Soupwas economical because water could be added to serve more people, if necessary. At the outset of theDepression, Al Capone, the notorious gangster from Chicago, established the firstsoup kitchenDepression-era Soup Kitchens – United States American Historyhttp://www.u-s-history.com › pages

Image: thesleuthjournal.com

Image: Oldphotoguy.com

Image: Dailymail.uk

The Affect of the Great Depression on Children
by Emily Wang

A Soup Line (Notice the Kids in Front) During the Great Depression, children suffered a lot. They no longer had the joys and freedoms of childhood, and often shared their parents’ burdens and issues on money. For Christmas and birthdays, very few children were able to have fancy toy. Some families made gifts themselves, but many others could not afford food at all. For most people, the only way to celebrate holidays with gifts, were to window-shop. Since children lacked food, they often suffered from malnutrition.

Sometimes, children left home. They either did not want to burden their families,were tired of their boring and poor living, or just wanted an adventure. Some left with their families’ blessings, but others escaped from the house overnight. Most of them traveled on boxcars, sections of trains, and helped each other. They shared routes, tips, and information. Children got on boxcars after trains started moving, so it was very possible for them to get injured if they missed their footing. In one case, a northern white boy, who had heard of segeration, but had not experienced it, helped on another, near midnight. They talked through the night of their exciting adventure, and when daybreak came, the boy realized his friend was African-American.
If a person was caught riding a boxcar, he or she would be taken off it, and depending on state rule, possibly punished. Some states were cruel, sentecing community labor, and others were nicer, letting the person stay overnight with food supply. In between, were states that just escorted the person to the state border, and telling them to never return again. Girls also were travelers. Some disguised themselves as boys, but some found advantages as being a girl. Some nice people would give girls the food and board they could offer that would not be given to boys.
Children of the Great Depression suffered heavily physically, with diseases like malnutrion, but even more suffered mentally, knowing that in a split second, within the blink of an eye, their lives might just change.

TREATIES MADE, TREATIES BROKEN

Kelly wrote that colonization created the condition of poverty on many American Indian reservations today. Many Americans have misperceptions that poverty should not exist on reservations because Native people’s basic needs are taken care of under treaties.

Over 500 treaties were made with American Indian tribes, primarily for land cessations, but 500 treaties were also broken, changed or nullified when it served the government’s interests.

The video below about policies toward the Lakota gives many examples of this, and the practice was not limited to tribes in the Plains. It is also true that some tribes have no treaties and many tribes remain unrecognized as tribes by the federal government; this leaves them without reservation trust land and federal programming. The fact is that many Native American people are suffering and we should all care about that.

Frederick Douglass(bornFrederick Augustus Washington Bailey;c. February 1818[4] – February 20, 1895) was anAfrican-Americansocial reformer, abolitionist,orator, writer, andstatesman. After escaping fromslaveryin Maryland, he became a national leader of theabolitionistmovement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory[5]and incisive antislavery writings. In his time, he was described by abolitionists as a living counter-example to slaveholders’ arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens.[6][7]Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave.[8]